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Mexico: Journalists in Danger

Mexico: Journalists in Danger

Public events with the death-threatened Marta Durán de Huerta (journalist) and Ivan Báez (advocate) in Brussels

25.03.2015 - 26.03.2015

Hundreds of journalists demonstrate against life-threatening working conditions in 2010.

Death-threats in Mexico against journalists and human rights activists are common. Corruption, organized crime and repression of civil society endanger the work of human rights activists and journalists. Since the year 2000, 103 journalists have been murdered, 25 are missing and only few of the cases have been clarified. This has consequences for the reporting in the country: media workers tend to do self-censorship; publish anonymous, and some dangerous regions in Mexico are not covered anymore at all.

What does this mean for a country in which democracy is precarious and in which independent and investigative journalism is even more so needed? (Mexico is ranking 152 from 180 in the World Press Freedom Index of Reporters without borders). How does the law of 2012 for the protection of human rights activists and journalists function in practice? What are suggestions so that journalists are able to continue their work? The human rights activist Iván Báez and the journalist Marta Durán, both death-threatened for their engagement for the freedom of expression, will give an answer to these and more questions.

The speakers:

Marta Durán de Huerta is an investigative journalist and book author and covers in her reporting subjects such as state repression, corruption and organized crime. She received massive threats and has been put last year under the protection mechanism of the Mexican government. She is a sociologist with a doctoral degree; she is a collaborator of the Mexican weekly journal Proceso and foreign correspondent of Radio Nederland. She is a lecturer for political journalism at the school for journalism Carlos Septién García; and for audio-visual communication at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico City.

Iván Báez is advocate and collaborator of the freedom-of-press organization Article 19 in Mexico City. He is an expert for human rights and the freedom of expression. He has been threatened because of his engagement for an independent journalism.

Brussels, BelgiumThursday, 26th of March 2015, 9:00 – 10:30Press breakfast "Mexico: Periodistas en peligro" in the European Parliament; joint event of the Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL

Venue: Room ASP 1 E 3Hosts:• Mr. Josep-María TERRICABRAS, President of the Group of the European Free Alliance, member of EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee (Greens/EFA)• Mr. Iosu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, member of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (GUE/NGL)

Jordi SEBASTIÀ, MEP and journalist, and Ernest URTASUN, The Greens, Vice-President of the de la Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, equally invite to the event and will be present.Registration:Gaby Küppers, gabriele.kueppers@europarl.europa.euContact:Marlis Gensler, Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, marlis.gensler@rosalux.org